November 13, 2014

In Houston, I took three classes. I was very impressed with their overall quality.

Thursday afternoon, I took a class with Wendy Butler Berns called "Thumbnail to Grand Scale."

In this photos, Wendy is holding one of her designs that has been englarged to a grand scale.

Friday, I took a wonderful class with Jenny Rayment, called "Tucked and Embellished Circles."  I just adore Jenny's quilts and have admired them at shows for years. She is a great teacher with a wicked sense of humor.

 We learned how to make tucks, and embellish the edges with couched yard, or satin stitches.

We had an option for making a second example, using different techniques.

 Jenny's examples

 sewing machines were provided. this is a necchi machine, very nice!

 some people used batiks

 I just used muslin.

I really enjoyed this all day, hands on class.

One day, when I grow up....

 Aren't they gorgeous~

Lastly on Sunday morning, I took a three hour class with Rita Lynne, making 3-D flower embellishments.

One of the good things about Sunday classes, is teachers don't want to haul home class supplies and they give you extras! We got double kits on each of these flowers.

November 12, 2014

While at IQF, I filmed a three minute video for Quilt Alliance.  I spoke about my quilt It's Not the House, specifically how it was designed and constructed, and the story behind its design. I was nervous but it was really fun!

Speaking of fun, Amalia and I dressed up for Halloween and headed to dinner with new friends.

We might have had a few drinkies at Pete's Piano Bar.

Saturday, several friends and some family came to see the show with me!

My niece Charlotte led the way through the show most of the time. When she wasn't molesting the potted plants!

We bravely explored the food truck park after walking around the show. So many choices and the food was sooooooo good.

Speaking of good food, Julie took us to Fadi's on Sunday. Amazing!

It's always hard to let this darling go home with Lorna and Chris, and not with me!

November 11, 2014

My quilt It's Not the House was part of the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art: Home exhibit. It was really an honor to have my quilt hang among so many other gorgeous quilts.

When I arrived, I checked to see if it had been hung according to my instructions, but it wasn't. So I found a white glover and fixed it.

I think it hangs better with those doors pulled back and attached with the magnets.

I found the What's for Dinner? exhibit next.

My quilt was placed next to Jamie Fingal's Thai Chicken (made from neckties).

Amalia's Fruitful Art, Fruit for Art was also on the table. 

Some more of my favorites from What's for Dinner?

The exhibit had a nice "menu" with our artists' statements for perusal.

November 10, 2014

I'll be doing a five day review of my trip to Houston. It's taken me a week to recover, mull over all the ideas I was exposed to, all the new people I met, download  a gajillion photos, and get my everyday life back on track.

Here are a few of my favorite quilts. There were seriously too many to photograph.

This gorgeous quilt was pieced out of apple core shapes, and sprinkled with delicate cherry blossom appliqued flowers.

I love the combination of drawn and stitched lines on this quilt.

Kelp by Sheila Frampton-Cooper

Another by Sheila Frampton-Cooper, called Metamorphosis.

Cheryl Sleboda's awesome quilt with a long German name that means "Speed."

The quilt I stood in front of the longest (outside of my own, ha ha) was this reproduction of a 14th century quilt. It took 40+ women over 7000 hours to complete. It is made with a technique called "boutis."

The display was backlit so you could really  see how each little area was stuffed.

October 30, 2014

Oh, blessed day, you have arrived! I'm so excited to be able to post photos of these works to share.

I'm on my way to Houston, to be reunited with two of my quilts which are being exhibited at the International Quilt Festival 2014.

My small quilt, Not Half Bad, is part of the What's for Dinner? exhibit.

Not Half Bad depicts six oysters on the half-shell, hand sewn in silk, on an organza plate of ice. The napkin is a vintage handkerchief.  Of course, I included cocktail sauce, lemon slices, and beer. These placemat-sized quilts will be exhibited on a dinner table, how cool is that?

My quilt, It's Not the House, is part of the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art. This year's theme is Home.

closed

open

detail of outside

...

detail of inside

This quilt came out of a family discussion. My husband said one night, fussing, "Sometimes living in this house..." and my son immediately said, "It's not the house, it's the people!"

The "bricks" that make up the outside have words on them that describe each of us, and are color coded to match each interior profile. The doors can be secured open or closed using jewelry magnets that are sewn on in strategic places.

I'm so excited to be in Houston! It is fabulous to see my quilt hanging here.

I'll be doing a three minute video about It's Not the House on Saturday for Quilt Alliance, in which I'll tell about how I got my design idea, and the process by which I made the quilt.